After drawing even with Quincy with just under five minutes to go, the Missouri S&T men's basketball team couldn't get over the hump and ended up on the short end of a 56-49 decision to the Hawks Sunday at Billy Key Court.

In a game that tight throughout the afternoon, the Miners overcame a five-point deficit and tied the score on Marquis Jones' three-pointer with 4:57 to play. However, Quincy got a second chance basket on its next trip down the floor from Josh Edmonds and finished the game by outscoring the Miners 9-2.

The Miners' lone basket down the stretch came on a putback by Taurance Townsel (Houston, Texas/) with 1:54 to got to make it 53-49, but S&T couldn't score again after that.

Missouri S&T got off to a fast start Sunday by scoring the game's first seven points and holding Quincy off the scoreboard for nearly five minutes. The Hawks drew even at nine just past the midway point of the first half, but S&T got baskets from Adam Knollmeyer (Linn, Mo./Linn) and Townsel to regain a four-point lead.

After Curtis Mosley's jumper gave S&T a 15-11 lead, the Hawks scored nine straight points to move in front and eventually took a 25-24 lead to the locker room.

The Miners took the lead back in the opening minute of the second half on a jumper by Aaron Hays (Kirksville, Mo./Kirksville), but the Hawks came back and took as much as a five-point lead at 31-26. S&T came right back, tying the game on a lay-in by Casey Noll (St. Louis, Mo./Oakville) -- who was seeing his first action in over a season after battling injuries -- and moved in front about a minute later on a three-pointer by Owain Hall (Kingston, Jamica/).

S&T held that lead until 9:09 remained on the clock, when Quincy's Billy Baptist drained a three-pointer in the midst of a 9-0 run to put the Hawks back in front.

The Miners never led again, although they did wipe out the deficit on the three-pointer by Jones.

Mosley was the lone Miner in double figures Sunday with 12 points, while Hays finished with nine and Noll with eight. S&T held Quincy (7-4, 2-2 GLVC) -- who was led by Baptist with 16 points -- to just 34.5 percent shooting from the floor, but shot just 33.9 percent themselves for the afternoon.

The Miners played Sunday's game without leading scorer Justin Taylor (Webster Groves, Mo./Webster Groves), who had to sit out the contest after being ejected for picking up two technical fouls in Tuesday's win at St. Edward's.

S&T (5-6, 0-3 GLVC) will open a two-game road trip Thursday at Lewis; game time will be at 7:45 p.m.